


Last Class of the Day

by Malind



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, M/M, Rebellion, Terrorism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:00:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25452028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malind/pseuds/Malind
Summary: Determined not to find a mate anytime soon, Sephiroth meets his marksmanship teacher, another alpha like him, on the first day of class and it goes nothing like he expects.
Relationships: Vincent Valentine/Sephiroth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Sephiroth scrolled through his schedule with a quick swipe of his finger on his phone. With evening creeping in with its cooler breeze, he had to scroll down to the very bottom of the list for his last class.

He normally would have already had it memorized but, with Aeris now out of the house too, had spent weeks helping his foster dad move from their large five bedroom childhood home to a small two bedroom apartment. That included selling furniture and other unnecessary stuff, packing up the rest, going on a cleaning rampage, and then moving everything left over from the chaos.

So, yeah, helping his dad had been much more important than being bothered with the task of memorizing a schedule. He’d have it memorized in a day or two anyway. There was no true loss outside of a finger stroke.

The last entry on his schedule for the day was… marksmanship. Sephiroth groaned. What a crass, inelegant ‘sport’… Weeks before though, it’d been his only feasible option. He’d already taken all of the fencing classes he could and otherwise had no interest in competitive sports. This had seemed like the next best option—or so the school councilor had said—and Sephiroth had warily accepted the woman’s advice when he’d signed up for classes. Now, he wondered if he should just head back over to the counselors’ office, drop the damned thing, and see what other physical education class he could take to satisfy the requirement.

…Well, it was too late to be bothered with it that day, unfortunately. It was the first day of college. The office was surely flooding with students looking to do the same thing. It was better to just wait a week and try then. In the meantime, he supposed he had to get to class. He wasn’t going to skip it and let it tarnish his perfect attendance record.

Minutes later after crossing the campus, a short distance away from the training field, a couple of young omegas, judging by the scent of them, hurriedly stepped by him and then looked over their shoulders, murmuring between each other, practically giggling to one another. Sephiroth eyed them for a moment and the direction they were going. They apparently had the same class. The blue-eyed one with spiky blond hair eyed him back for a moment before an edge of his mouth curled up and they headed around the corner. Sephiroth had no doubt the younger man knew who he was.

It was well known around campus that he was the only alpha who’d never bothered to date a beta and certainly not an omega. And he sure as hell hadn’t slept with either one. Not when it put him at risk for involuntary imprinting or, worse, inevitable little bundles of joy.

His interests laid solely in getting through school and getting a job as an officer in Shin-Ra’s army. At that point in his life, he’d be making enough money to support the family he already had.

In other words: Screwing some horny, in-heat kid who was barely a man or woman wasn’t anywhere on his todo list. Never mind his foster dad, Professor Gast, a professor at the school, was getting antsy for some grandkids.

Yeah, Sephiroth did want kids, eventually. Maybe. And he did want a mate. Someday. But other things were just more important to him right now, and he wanted to keep his mind about him.

Too often, people in school dropped out, got jobs well below what they were capable of, just because they couldn’t keep their legs closed or their dick to themselves. They got so wrapped up in screwing and making babies, all else just seemed to fade away, as least until the rut was over. And then they were screwed out of thousands of dollars, lowered GPA’s, and forced to get crap jobs no one wanted, just to pay for food and care for their new families, school no longer a priority.

Sephiroth wasn’t going to do that. There was no way in fucking hell he’d do that!

In fact, he’d demanded a prescription for inhibitors just to be sure of it, much against Dr. Hojo’s advice since, in supposedly purely professional terms, Sephiroth was considered an excellent specimen for mating and reproduction. When Sephiroth hadn’t been moved to considering breeding even with DNA evidence, IQ comparisons, and statistical facts, his doctor had even pushed his own omega daughter on Sephiroth before Hojo had relented on the prescription, but only after Sephiroth had donated a batch of semen on two separate occasions.

As such, prescription in hand, Sephiroth was one of the few who’d made it to his fourth year of school without any extended breaks. And he planned on making it all the way to the end.

Sephiroth rounded the corner himself, took in the scene, and found his gaze attached to a man whose wings were a direct contrast to Sephiroth’s own. The man’s were black, leathery, like a bat’s, whereas Sephiroth’s were white, pure, like a great snowy owl. Both were signs of a predator, of an alpha. But, despite that fact, despite the inhibitors, Sephiroth found he couldn’t take his eyes off of the man.

In fact, he’d stood there stupidly for a good minute before the other man looked up and returned the stare. What passed between them, Sephiroth couldn’t name it, but it seemed as much of a war as it did a submission. And then the other man’s gaze was pulled away as a student asked him a question that Sephiroth couldn’t hear over the distance. The man walked over to her and began to talk to her, pointing out something on the rifle laying on the table. It was in that moment that Sephiroth realized this man must be their teacher. Valentine, his schedule had said.

Sephiroth yanked his gaze away, trying to tame his thrashing heart, his twitching dick. What the hell was that?

He’d taken his drugs this morning, hadn’t he? …Yeah, he had. He never forgot.

But, even if he hadn’t, Valentine was clearly an alpha. Sephiroth shouldn’t have reacted that way, even if he hadn’t taken his inhibitor. Physically, their chemistry was wrong. Little pleasure could be had from sex. It was more like masturbating than screwing. More importantly, their incompatibility could only lead to a fruitless bought of sex that would bring forth no children.

Yes, such a spat was pointless and frowned upon by the whole of society. As such, they were exceedingly rare, if done at all.

So, why had Sephiroth reacted as he had? Well, he had absolutely no idea why and heading to the councilor’s office was suddenly just that much more appealing.

About to do just that, Sephiroth felt a stare on him and turned his gaze back onto a pair of eyes that stared back. Did this man feel the same thing he did? Or, as other heads turned to look at him, was Sephiroth merely making a spectacle of himself by standing there so blatantly away from the others and not joining the class?

“Can I help you?” Valentine’s voice…

It was so deep, rich, raw almost. It made Sephiroth shiver with a delight he shouldn’t have been feeling. At the sound of his voice, many of the omega’s down the lines of tables turned their head to look at Valentine, clearly assessing Valentine worthiness as a mate. But surely Valentine was taken. The man was older, established as a teacher at the college, and disturbingly beautiful. If he wasn’t taken, then clearly there was something wrong with the world.

And why the hell was Sephiroth even thinking like that in the first place?

“Uh, I’m here for the class,” Sephiroth said, when he felt he was composed enough to talk without stumbling over his words.

At the sound of Sephiroth’s voice, Vincent swallowed, his body shifting. It was in that moment that Sephiroth realized Valentine might be feeling something similar to what he felt. The idea scared him. What the hell was going on between them?

Valentine jerked his gazed to his students and cleared his throat before going off on a tangent about what was expected in the class, what they’d be doing throughout the semester, how grading was done, everything one would expect in a class. But Valentine never looked at Sephiroth again, not even when Sephiroth walked over to an empty space at a table. Not until Sephiroth finally managed to pull his own gaze away and reached out his hand to run his fingers over the length of a rifle.

It was then that Valentine paused. Sephiroth looked up and realized Valentine was watching his hand on the rifle. Testing it, his breaths becoming heavier, Sephiroth traced the barrel with four fingers on top and his thumb on the bottom, stroking it to the tip just as he would have given his own cock testing rub.

Valentine’s breath caught before the man blurted out, “That’s it for today. I’ll see you in two days, same time.” And then the man whirled around and stalked away, finding interest in the targets down on the other side of the field.

Sephiroth stared at his back, even as all of the other students mumbled to each other and soon left. Several minutes later, Valentine stilled and then slowly turned around. When their gazes met again, Sephiroth nearly choked on the desire he felt. What in the world was happening to him?

And he feared he knew the answer. It scared him so badly, he jerked around rather ungracefully and stalked to the field’s exit. It couldn’t get his answer out of his head: He’d been imprinted. By a man he hadn’t even touched. By a man who was an alpha as well. By a man who was surely taken.

This was so, so wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m sorry, but Dr. Hojo isn’t going to be able to see you today. Our office is closing in 10 minutes. If you come back tomorrow—“

“No! I seriously need to see him now! Tell him I’m here.” When the receptionist still appeared unmoved by Sephiroth’s begging’s, Sephiroth practically yelled out, “I’m not leaving this office until he sees me!”

Dizzy, chilled with a light sweat but feeling feverish at the same time, Sephiroth was sure he was damned close to hyperventilating or having a anxiety attack or a stroke or something. His controllable fear at school had grown into near terror with every minute it’d taken to drive to the doctor’s office as he’d pictured everything he’d worked so damned hard for falling apart before his eyes. If Valentine’s class hadn’t let out early, he never would have made it before the doctor’s office had closed. It’d been a small favor that had so far refused to bear fruit.

“Sephiroth, you need to come back tomorrow. In the morning, we can—“

“No, I can’t wait until tomorrow!”

“Lynn, it’s all right. Come in, Sephiroth,” Hojo said from the doorway that lead to his office. The sweeping gesture of his hand only added to the welcome.

Breathing out hard from absolute relief, Sephiroth wasted no time in getting into the room. Once the door closed behind him, he whipped around and blurted out, “The inhibitors aren’t working! You need to do something!”

Disturbingly calm in a way that put normal people to shame, with a tilt of his head, Hojo’s gaze fell to Sephiroth’s crotch before immediately returning to his face. If Hojo was looking for a hard-on, it wasn’t there. Fortunately, it’d gone down by the time Sephiroth had reached his car.

“Sephiroth, what makes you think the inhibitors aren’t working?”

“Because—Because…” Sephiroth didn’t even know how to start explaining it. How could he ever explain it and sound sane at the same time? Alphas didn’t imprint on each other. It just didn’t happen. It couldn’t physically happen. It wasn’t natural. So, how could he explain to this doctor that it had indeed happened and still call himself sane afterwards? “I don’t know, but I know they’re not. I-I got an urge to…”

Throughout the half-assed confession, Hojo was watching Sephiroth so closely that the younger man wanted to squirm in his lies and half-truths.

Hojo said, “You know I’m already taking a great risk prescribing you inhibitors in the first place. Without certain health conditions—Well, you know what I’ve done for you is quite illegal.”

“Yes, I know, I know,” Sephiroth said, nodding, trying to not pull his hair out. “And I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me. But they’re just not working anymore!”

“Tell me what has happened.” When Sephiroth still hesitated, Hojo added, “I cannot help you if you don’t talk to me.”

“I know, I know…” Sephiroth took to pacing. He just couldn’t stand still any longer or he feared he’d start screaming.

“I can see you fear losing control, Sephiroth. I understand your fear. We’ve talked about this. And, I assure you, whatever you say in this office stays in this office.” With that, Hojo walked across the room and took a seat on his stool, his arms folding over his chest. “Sit.”

Sephiroth paced one more time before sitting on the exam table. Finally, his fingers found stranglehold’s in his hair. “I… I think someone imprinted on me. And I felt…. I’ve never felt so out of control! It was all I could do to not rush him and take him to the ground and fuck him right then and there! I had to leave before I did. I wanted to take him. So badly.”

“Was this man a beta or omega?”

Choking out a laugh, Sephiroth shook his head. “That’s the part that makes the least amount of sense! He—I’m sure he was an alpha.”

Hojo frowned at him for a moment, muttering, “An alpha…” Then he looked away and pursed his lips, staring at some spot on the far wall. Sephiroth wanted to shake him, hard, to demand more than just two words. It was nearly a minute before Hojo added, “That’s very interesting.”

“Interesting?! Interesting how?” Sephiroth hugged himself, his fingers digging into his arms, staring at the other man, wide eyed, flabbergasted. “How could that possibly be interesting?! I-I can’t—This can’t happen to me! I need your help!”

Hojo hadn’t really seemed to hear him as he stood and walked out the door, saying, “Wait here for me.” It was a couple agonizing minutes before he returned with a small paper bag. He handed the bag to Sephiroth. “Take that along with your inhibitor. This drug is sometimes prescribed alongside inhibitors when the inhibitors aren’t enough to counteract rutting impulses. There are possible side effects, much like what you experienced when you were a child, if you remember.”

Sephiroth did remember and had never wanted to take them again, had begged his foster parents not to, but here he was and he was desperate to not have his life fall apart when he was so close to having what he wanted. Just one more year. He just had to finish up this year. Then he could stop taking everything. He could never see Hojo again.

Standing up, the bag clutched in his hands, Sephiroth said a sincere thank you and started walking out the door.

“I’d like to see you again next week, Sephiroth, to discuss this further and to see if the medications are working for you. Make an appointment.”

“Yeah, okay,” Sephiroth said with a nod and then hurried out of the room.

As he approached the front desk, he realized the receptionist had left for the day. In her place was another young woman Sephiroth knew too well and, really, not at all. Jenova was…

The omega scared him for reasons he didn’t want to talk about. With anyone. The reasons were nonsensical and not worth others questioning his sanity.

But, whenever he looked at her, he couldn’t help seeing himself, but in omega form, small and delicate in her nurse uniform. Jenova’s soft face, eyes, even smile reminded him of himself. Her silver-white hair flowed in the same way down her back, lending to the illusion. The only thing missing was the pair of wings. Every time he saw her, a woman who looked nothing like her supposed father, Hojo, Sephiroth had to wonder if he’d finally found his real family. And the idea that Hojo wanted to breed them together… He felt a sickness in his gut all over again and hoped his donated sperm hadn’t made it anywhere near her.

“I need to make an appointment for a week from now,” he said in a voice that could barely be heard. But, watching her type and click with her mouse, he felt heart-shuddering relief in the fact that he no stirring in his loins for her, just as he felt nothing for anyone else, the inhibitors doing their job.

So, why the hell was Valentine so different?

“Is 2pm okay?”

Sephiroth realized then that his whole Monday was taken over by school. “Ah, no, I have classes.” He pulled out his phone from his pocket and scrolled through, one-handed. His life-saving medicine he held protectively in the other. “Could we do Tuesday instead? I have the whole morning off.”

“How about 9:30?”

“Yeah, that’ll work.”

“Okay.” Then she worked a bit more on the computer and then wrote the appointment time down with beautifully scripted handwriting on a little card and handed it to him. Her smile was weak. “Have a good evening, Sephiroth.”

He nodded to her. “You too.”

And, looking at her in that moment, so many questions crossed his mind, again, like: Why had his foster parents insisted on him coming to Dr. Hojo, out of all the doctors in the city? Was it merely a coincidence that his female doppelgänger worked here, was the daughter of Dr. Hojo? Did she question the same things?

And, as he breathed in, he caught the barest scent of an alpha, like him, whispering from her skin. He’d noticed it before. It’d been stronger years before—although still extremely weak—before her change into womanhood. But, otherwise, she’d never shown any other signs of being an alpha. And she certainly didn’t have wings like him. But neither did she have any outwards signs of being an omega, outside of her scent.

Too afraid to bring it up and have her look at him like he was a crazy person, too afraid to offend her, Sephiroth left the office without answers, again. Jenova locked the door behind him. And then he drove back to his small apartment he shared with a couple of roommates near campus with so many questions and so few answers in his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Sephiroth grabbed the second injector, twisted the dial, pinched some skin at his stomach, and pushed the needle in. He held his breath while he did it, not wanting to do it, but feeling he had no other choice.

It was two days later, and he was definitely experiencing side effects from the new drug. As such, he gulped down a pill with a couple of swallows of water. The other drug had also been in the bag, one to help with nausea. He was sure it helped at least a bit. It had the day before. The faster heartrate and tingling throughout his skin, well, that he just had to deal with.

He was sure he could get used to it. He had to. He had to be able to concentrate in his classes or there would have been no point to any of this. Maybe, over time, the side-effects would dissipate. Sometimes they did. He prayed it would be so this time.

Hours and several classes later, it was the moment of truth. He stood just outside of the entrance to the range. Other students walked around him. He barely saw them.

"He's not that bad of a teacher, you know."

Sephiroth blinked into focus and looked down a bit at the man who'd been walking with the blond spikey-haired omega on the first day of class. He realized now that the man wasn't an omega, but rather a beta. The beta's bear-like ears were back slightly, emphasizing his concern.

Betas gave off so little scent it was difficult to distinguish them when they stood next to an alpha or omega. And what scent they did give was neither beta or omega, but rather a scent of their own.

So not expecting being talked to, caught in his indecision and need to turn right back around and flee from the scene like he'd committed a crime, Sephiroth stood there stupidly, staring at the man.

The brunette smiled slightly. "I had him last year, too. He expects you to safely handle the thing and do your best, but he won't fail you just because you can't hit the target. You should give it at least a week, before you go dropping the class." The smile turned warmer. "I'm Zack. I've taken the class before. But I had to drop it last year, well, you know. But I'm not that bad at it. If you need any help, just ask. But don't drop it. I swear it's an easy A."

And then Zack was dragged off by the same spikey-haired blond omega from the other day. Sephiroth watched them disappear around the corner. Then he blew out a trembling breath when he realized he wasn't breathing.

An easy A? If only...

But, he had to go in. He had to know if the drugs were working. He'd felt nothing with everyone else. Valentine was the true test. The professor was the one who'd started all of this, after all. It'd started and hopefully would end with him.

So, Sephiroth stepped forward. He had to know.

Inside, when he saw the other alpha, he did indeed feel something, an uptick in his heart rate and breathing, a stirring in his groin, a calling to his very being.

No! He just couldn't be feeling anything! It didn't make any sense to be. It had to all be in his head. It just had to be!

He was just scared of the outcome, of failing. That was what was getting his heartrate up even more, bringing a sweat to his skin. And he was psyching himself into a hardon. It wasn't like he needed someone else to get it up. He could get it up on his own and had done so, although any pleasure he'd gained from it had been severely muted by the inhibitor. He hadn't even been able to orgasm for years. Gaining and achieving a hard-on was so difficult that it wasn't even worth the effort to try. Tell that to his twitching dick that began to fill out as if on command.

He jerked his gaze away from Valentine.

No, he wasn’t feeling this. It was all just in his head. He wasn't feeling anything real. He wasn't. And, whatever this physical reaction was, he was stronger than it. And he sure as hell hadn’t gotten through this many years only to fail because of a fucking alpha!

And that was what he kept telling himself as he forced his feet to move, forced his treacherous dick into submission. He thought about finishing school, of everything he wanted to achieve in his life. He thought about his family and how he wanted to provide for them, for Aeris. She would soon be finding a mate, raising a family, and Sephiroth wanted to be sure she and her children had everything they needed. And, when Sephiroth himself found someone, a mate he loved and wanted to be with and not just someone his body wanted to fuck—when that happened, he wanted to be able to provide for his for his mate and their children they’d made together and make sure they had everything they could ever need, just like his foster father and mother had done for them.

He could be as good of a father as his dad had always been. He would be.

Finally, he reached a table and stared down at the firearm. He kept his eyes on that gun, studied every detail about it so that he knew it as well as his own body.

It was either that or look up and see, well, exactly what his body wanted to see. His dick twitched again at the mere thought, a real twitch, a wanting swelling, not something coerced out of his body by force. How could he really keep denying it was there? He couldn’t.

And apparently, denying himself wasn’t doing a damned thing. Maybe overindulgence would help. So, Sephiroth let himself look up and stare at his apparent obsession.

The moment their eyes met, Valentine’s gaze ripped away, and he looked anywhere besides at Sephiroth. Watching it happen made Sephiroth smile his first true smile of the week. At least he wasn’t the only one going insane.

Valentine cleared his throat. His voice still came out gravelly as he said, “I hope you all had time to look over the safety guidelines for the class. For the first couple of weeks, we’ll be learning every inch of these firearms. How to dismantle them and put them back together. How to clean them and care for them. How to load your clips and the guns themselves.

“Every moment, we’ll be practicing gun safety. These are tools but they’re tools that can easily maim and kill. Any inappropriate handling and you will be instantly removed from the class.

“I’ve posted a safely agreement on the class’ blackboard. You need to print it out and sign it. No one here will be allowed live ammunition until I receive those agreements.”

Valentine stepped next to a table and lifted a rifle off the table. “Today, we’ll be learning every part of a gun, from stock to barrel. These general ideas can carry over to almost every firearm but, obviously, there will always be variations on the same theme. We’ll be practicing with other firearms throughout the semester.”

Then Valentine began going over the various parts, taking apart the gun in its entirety and then putting it back together. He showed the process again with ease, and Sephiroth had the feeling he could have done it blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back. Well, maybe not that far. But the man definitely knew his way around a rifle. Then, he instructed everyone to take their own apart, slowly going through the whole process, piece by piece.

Sephiroth did everything he could to merely focus on the man’s instructions and not focus on the man himself. It was so difficult that Sephiroth wasn’t surprised in the least that he stumbled through every step of it. It was quite a bit mortifying. He was normally a man who could pick up things so easily it put others to shame.

But here, now, with Valentine so close by yet so unbelievably far away, Sephiroth could barely get his hands to move properly, let alone work on breaking down the rifle to any passable degree. He was still struggling when Valentine already had the class halfway through putting the rifles back together. Sephiroth gritted his teeth at his dire frustration.

Now, he completely understood what every alpha and omega went through when the need to rut took over their lives. Now, he completely understood why he’d begged for those drugs. He couldn’t do this. And, he knew, the longer he denied his impulses, the worse this would get. It was why people gave in and just accepted that their bodies needed this in ways that extinguished rationality and, the faster they gave in, the faster they could get on with their lives.

By the end of class, everyone else leaving, Sephiroth was still struggling to get the damned thing back together. When he realized the other students were walking away, he had to stiffen his face up to stop the tears of utter frustration.

Losing control of himself like this....

This wasn’t what he’d wanted for his last year of school. This was the last thing he’d wanted. He needed to drop the class and hopefully never see this man again and forget he even existed. Because, whatever his body thought it was going to get out of it, it just wasn’t going to happen, even if he did want it.

Footsteps approached him from the side, and Sephiroth looked up. He shouldn’t have looked up.

Valentine stopped a few steps away from him, so close and so much farther than Sephiroth’s humming body demanded. Then Valentine came to stand right next to him, took the half-assembled rifle from his hands, readjusted a part, and began to put the rest together with an ease that embarrassed Sephiroth all over again.

The man aimed the rifle, looking though the scope and at the far away targets, before he removed it from his shoulder, turned a bit to face Sephiroth, his breathing notably unsteady, and handed it to him. “Try looking through the scope at the targets.”

Sephiroth looked down at the rifle as if it was going to bite him. Or as if the man attached to it was going to bite him. Then, Sephiroth forced himself to take it because Valentine wasn’t relenting. And Sephiroth had to prove to himself, in that moment at least when faced with so much dizzying temptation, that he could resist. He could be stronger than his own body, no matter how impossible and pointless it seemed to be to prove such a thing.

Grabbing the rifle, he squared his feet like he’d seen others do and took aim. Valentine took a step back, hiding from his view. Sephiroth held his breath, looking through the scope. Within a couple of seconds, his keyed up body demanding oxygen, he felt dizzy.

So near his ear, he heard the word, “Breathe.”

Sephiroth sucked in a breath at the shock of having Valentine so close. The urge to turn around and claim the man, finally, was so strong it only made him more dizzy. “Fuck,” he breathed out, his eyes squeezing shut, his wings fluttering slightly under the dire need to stand still, to not react, to keep the student/teacher relationship that was supposed to be held sacred.

But no, it was too much. He just couldn’t do it. He hissed, “You need to move away from me. Now.”

It was several more agonizing seconds before Valentine did move away. But, before he did, whether by accident or on purpose, he pressed just that much closer against Sephiroth’s back, so much that Sephiroth could feel Valentine mold to his body.

And it set off warning flags. It was a clear movement of an alpha who wanted to claim an omega, to bend him over and fuck him until their orgasms overtook them and spilled forth.

How exactly Valentine managed to pull away, Sephiroth had absolutely no clue. He didn’t know if he could have done it. Then he heard retreating footsteps and saw Valentine’s back as the man stalked away before his great wings took him to the sky and left him alone.

Well, not completely alone. Valentine’s assistant watched with him, several rifles in her arms. As they watched, the woman said, “Oookay... He’s never done that before...”

“Don’t say anything. Nothing happened.” Sephiroth put the full strength of his gaze on her. “Please.”

“Yeah, sure. Okay,” she mumbled, eyeing him, the cause of the abandonment and the apparent corruption of a well-liked teacher.

And Sephiroth wasn’t sure he could believe her.

He should have listened to his instincts and never come to class that day...

If only he’d listened...


	4. Chapter 4

About an hour later, Sephiroth’s phone was ringing. He was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and not seeing it. Over and over again his mind played out what had happened at the gun range. In fact, it’d been playing out over and over and over again ever since it’d happened. Each time it played out, various changes altered the scene. At that point, it was a full-out porno.

Sephiroth gave his cock a squeeze through his jeans, sucking in a hissing breath through his teeth as it jumped in a hand, and then yanked his phone out of his pocket on the fifth and final ring. He answered it before he read who it was.

When he did see who it was though, before he put it to his ear, he didn’t know whether to be terrified or ecstatic. On the other end was his school counselor, Lucrecia. This was exactly the person he’d wanted to see, at least before an hour ago.

Why was she calling him? She’d never called him before. He’d always been the one to track her down and beg for an appointment.

Then again, it hadn’t always been the way. In high school and middle school, he hadn’t been able to avoid her if he’d wanted to. She’d always been calling him into her office to discuss things, anything and everything about his life. At times, she’d seemed more like a psychiatrist than a standard school counselor. Hell, she’d seemed more like a concerned and protective parent at times.

And then, to his surprise, he’d found out she’d transferred to the same college he’d been accepted to. And she’d remained his counselor ever since, although, again, she was now much more elusive. He chalked that up to college being much more demanding. Perhaps it was also just because he was growing up, an adult now, and she didn’t feel the need to get thoroughly into his personal business anymore.

“Hello?” Sephiroth said hesitantly.

“Hello, Sephiroth. Is it at all possible you could come into my office at six, in about thirty-five minutes? A matter has been brought to my attention that really needs addressing.”

And that matter could only possibly be one thing….

Sephiroth held back a exasperated groan that ended up instead being a seething grind of his teeth. He didn’t know exactly who or what he was angry with, but probably all of the above.

And it’d taken her less than an hour to call… Knowing her, there was no way he’d be able to say no. Even if he did, she’d be on his case for days if she was anything like she’d been in his teens. It was easier just to give in. Besides, always an example student in the past, he knew he’d actually committed an offense this time. It was better to take it head on than deny the inevitable and risk it getting even worse.

Besides, assuredly, she’d find no objection to him dropping the class. And this was the perfect time to do it. She had to of realized now that the class was in no way a good fit for him.

“Yeah, okay, I’m leaving right now.”

“Great. Thank you so much. Just let the secretary know I’m expecting you when you arrive.”

Then the line went dead, and Sephiroth was seeing his salvation beaming before him brighter than the sun. What a beautiful sight it was.

He shoved himself off the bed and rushed out the door and past Angeal and Genesis sitting the couch, saying, “Be back later.”

They grunted something in return and kept playing their video game. They’d all been roommates for over two years already. Any mystery and resulting curiosity between them had long since vanished. Living with them was more like having a couple brothers at that point, especially with Angeal and Genesis being childhood friends.

Ten minutes later, he was entering the counselors wing of the large, three-story building. He walked around the line and to the neatly dressed woman working on the computer. He knew Alice quite well. She’d been working here every year he’d attended the school. She’d often talked to him during the long waits. He didn’t really go for small talk much, but her friendliness was too hard to ignore.

“Lucrecia is expecting me.”

Alice smiled widely at him. “Go on back, Sephiroth. And congratulations on making it to your fourth year! We’re so proud of you.”

He grinned back at her, although he had to force it a bit since he was still uneasy about this appointment. He was rather proud of himself too, thank you very much. …At least he had been. “Thanks.”

When he got to her office, one amongst many, so eager to get this damned class dropped and get on with his life, he opened the door without thinking nor knocking. And the surprised look on her face told him he should have knocked. He was even more surprised when he looked to the other person in the room. He shouldn’t have been surprised.

Valentine sat there staring right back. And everything, every charged thought, every needy impulse, every ounce pulled him forward and told him to do exactly what his instincts were telling him to do, that it would be so, so good to take this man, to feel the pleasure of his body, to claim him, own him, never ever let him go.

“Sephiroth, you’re early!”

The words seemed to click in Valentine’s brain as he jerked his head back to look at Lucrecia. “Lucrecia, what is this?”

The woman had already looked beyond flustered. The growled, almost angry words did nothing to help that. But there was more to Valentine’s words than just anger. There was a begging there. A dire confusion. Her mouth worked up and down a bit. Clearly, she’d been expecting Sephiroth to come on time. And he certainly should have knocked. Perhaps she’d never meant for them to be in the same room together. Or perhaps Valentine had just gotten there and hadn’t been filled in yet.

When the woman said nothing, Vincent’s voice rose with, “What the hell are you doing? Is this man your—“

“Vincent! Please!” Lucrecia nearly shouted, jerking to stand upright behind her desk seemingly involuntarily.

Confused out of his mind, Sephiroth stared between them before his gaze finally settled on Lucrecia. “My what? What’s going on?”

“Good God, is this why I…” Vincent shot out of his seat and took a step toward the door, but Sephiroth was blocking it and still utterly disorientated. Vincent came to an absolute standstill when their eyes met. Even in the dim light of the room, Vincent’s eyes were still a blazing blood red.

Face to face, so close, another couple of steps would have brought them against each other. And Sephiroth felt the need to close that distance. The impulse was so strong, he nearly did. And he wouldn’t have stopped Vincent from closing that distance instead.

“Skin to skin contact will help.”

“What the fuck, Lucrecia? Why…” Vincent closed his eyes, his whole body rock hard. There was even a pressing at his pants at his groin, Sephiroth couldn’t help but note. Sephiroth was no better. The scent coming off of Vincent was so potent in the small, seemingly claustrophobic office. It grabbed a small moan from Sephiroth’s throat. He closed his own eyes and let all of his senses wash over him, taking away any questions, any real thought. It was so disturbingly easy to become lost in it this time.

Lucrecia’s small voice said, “I’m sorry.”

Vincent spat out another curse and then whirled on the woman. “Fucking hell! Is this what you wanted?! Did you even warn him before he took my class?! You told me…” Vincent turned back around to look at Sephiroth. His breaths were almost wheezes. “You told me this wouldn’t happen again, that the effects would wear off. You promised me.”

“I…” Lucrecia began.

“You lied to me… Tell me there are no others, that Veld was the only other one.”

Lucrecia cleared her throat. “There were two others, two women, but they died several years ago.”

No longer able to contain himself, Sephiroth blurted out, “What are you two talking about?! What the hell is going on?!” The explosion of words felt so good. It was a trace release from the needy, dizzying tension he felt throughout his body.

Lucrecia backed up a step, suddenly looking tiny in the small room that contained two much larger men.

And then, as if Vincent had lost all control of himself and probably had, Vincent was on him, attacking Sephiroth’s mouth with his own, taking advantage of Sephiroth’s shock to dive his tongue deep into Sephiroth’s mouth, trying to taste everything he could inside Sephiroth’s mouth and then his face, his neck, biting at it. Their bodies ground together with Vincent’s hands all over his back and ass, grasping and kneeling and spreading. Sephiroth grabbed fistfuls of his hair, and yanked him back up, kissing him deeply and thoroughly in a way he’d never done before in his life.

Sephiroth had never even kissed someone before, outside of peck. But that didn’t matter at that moment.

The kiss, their groping were so messy but filled Sephiroth to the brim with everything he felt like he needed in life. This was more important than school. More important than eating or breathing. More important than his own life. His skin sang with life. His body dampened with a thin layer of sweat. His cock felt so close to erupting. And every one of his loud heartbeats begged to know why he’d spent a single second resisting this man.

And then he was being pulled away, rather forcefully at that, but he wouldn’t let go. Two hands came between them and worked to pry them apart. When that still didn’t work, another set joined in. Finally, they came apart like two pieces of tape with their sticky sides stuck together.

Sephiroth stumbled back and then tried to go forward again but the hands restrained him.

“Bring them into my office. Please. It’s all right.”

Staring at Sephiroth for as long as he was able to with a hungry need in his eyes, Vincent was pushed along ahead of him and then forced into a chair. Sephiroth was urged along rather forcefully in much the same way, pushed down into a seat a couple of feet away from Vincent’s. The bald man who’d ushered Sephiroth in stood between them after closing the door behind himself. He was a beast of a man, literally. His jaguar tail swished, the man himself surely anticipating and ready for another fight.

The room was a chorus of ragged breaths. Even Lucrecia’s was a bit labored. She swallowed hard and looked between them. Again, she said a quiet, “I’m sorry. I didn’t anticipate… I mean, I did, but…”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Sephiroth forced out with his heavy breaths, his mouth and skin still wet. He racked his brain for some inkling of understanding but it was utterly illusive.

Lucrecia pressed her lips together before she admitted, “You’ve been genetically altered, Sephiroth. You both have. There was an experiment 22 years ago, and you were both participants. We—we wanted to see if we could manipulate our behaviors, specifically alpha behavior. It… It promised to change the way we interact as a society. However, we didn’t anticipate the strength of the imprinting or the urges to mate. Even inhibitors are worthless. As you can see, it’s…. It’s overwhelming.”

Everything in Sephiroth told him this couldn’t be true, despite the evidence to the contrary. But if even one word of what this woman was saying was true… “You… You told me to take his class! You knew this would happen?!”

“No, I—I didn’t. I really thought the effects would be next to nonexistent, if there were any at all. But Hojo, he wanted to test to see if there were any lingering effects.”

“Wait, what are you talking about? Hojo? But he’s… my doctor.” Sephiroth felt sick all of the sudden. The drugs in his system weren’t helping at all. Under his breath, he whispered, “What the fuck…”

“He wanted to see just how much the alterations had changed you. But I didn’t think… You were the only one who was altered as a fetus. I thought that might make a difference, that the changes would be more stable. And you were on inhibitors. I—I put you in a position I never should have.”

“So, what does this mean,” Sephiroth said weakly, overwhelmed and trying not to vomit as his skin seemed to swarm.

Vincent growled, staring at Lucrecia like he wanted to kill her, “It means that you’ve imprinted on me and I’m yours, no matter what, and I don’t know if I can survive this again. It means that even just looking at each other will send us off the deep end and each time it’ll only get worse. No matter how much we want otherwise. She’s right though, touching will help, but…” He shook his head, his elbows coming to his knees. “It killed him, Lucretia. Veld killed himself! And you did this to your own son!”

“Son?” Even though a good portion of Sephiroth couldn't make sense of the simple word, he felt ill all over again. That one word was too much. That word took insanity and threw it off the deep end. Was there even a word to describe just how insane all this was? “You’re my mother?”

Lucrecia hesitated, her hands clenching into fists on her desk before she said, “Yes.”

The next obvious question was, “Who’s my father.”

That question got an even longer pause, to the point he thought she wouldn’t answer. But then she said quietly, “Your father is Dr. Hojo.”

“No. No, that can’t be. That’s such bullshit!" He shoved himself out of his chair but the large alpha was still standing there blocking him. "All of this is bullshit! Get out of my way!”

When the bald man didn’t move, Sephiroth shoved him and the man stumbled back against the other chair but then made to grab him right back.

“Rude, let him go.”

It apparently took a second for the words to sink in but then Rude did shift to the side, closer to the desk, and Sephiroth slithered by him and out the door, not even bothering to close it. In fact, it slammed against the inside wall and left a sizable hole in it.

Behind him as he stalked away, he heard Vincent say, “We need to stay away from each other, Lucrecia.”

”Yes, but it’s probably already too late. I’m sorry, Vincent. I never...”

Sephiroth was so glad when he couldn’t hear their voices anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

Sephiroth sat in his car, staring at his phone, at the contact on his phone, but, no matter how long he stared, he couldn’t hit the dial button. The highlighted name was a comfort and suddenly a torment. Dad.

Had his foster dad known about all of this? A part of Sephiroth thought that there was no way. Professor Gast was the kindest, most generous man he’d ever met. There wasn’t a day in Sephiroth’s life that he could remember the man getting pissed off without good reason. And, even when he did, he barely let it show, at least to his kids. He had a patience and understanding that put all other dads to shame.

But the other part of him knew that ever since he was a child, perhaps ever since he was an infant, Dr. Hojo had been his doctor. His foster parents had brought him to that man willingly no matter how much Sephiroth had fought it. There's been times when it'd taken them hours to find him because he was terrified of going. But that had never stopped them from taking him to that clean and pristine office that held so much pain. It was the single point of misery in his life, and they'd never saved him from it. And this new revelation, well, nightmare had to be why.

His foster parents, Lucrecia, Dr. Hojo had to all be connected. They were the constants of his life since forever.

But, if Lucrecia and Hojo were his parents, had insisted in staying in his life, then why not just keep him in the first place? If they had wanted to experiment on him his whole life, wouldn't it have been easier to just keep him close at hand?

And were they together? Married? Did they have other children together who might very well be suffering the same fate?

The face of Jenova, Hojo's daughter, popped back into his mind, and his stomach took no time to roll. Was...

Was that woman truly his sister?! With this new knowledge, it seemed far too plausible now. And Hojo had been trying to get him to breed with her! Did she know about all of this too but kept smiling at him?

"What kind of sick shit is this?" he blurted out with his unsteady, heavy breaths. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the steering wheel, crossing his arms over it as well, his phone dangling from his fingers.

But he didn't want to just sit there. He wanted to act. He wanted to drive. And keep driving until he ran out of gas. And then he would fly, walk, crawl, forever, until he ran out of strength. He hoped that, by that point, he'd be so far away from all this madness that he could forget it ever existed.

Sephiroth went so far as to turn on the ignition of his beat-up, cheap-ass car he'd scraped his every dollar together to afford years ago, before he asked himself:

_But then what? Am I just going to assume a new identity or something? Is that even possible. How would I finish school? And what about Aeris? She's still in the middle of all of this._

There wasn't a moment Sephiroth could believe Aeris knew a single thing about any of this. They were so close. They still talked to each other on the phone at least once a week. In fact, she'd be expecting to hear from him at the end of the week, to know how his last year at school was going. Even to that day, she still sent him quirky little texts nearly every day, just to make him smile. She was his eternal cheerleader and practically idolized him, for God's sake. He loved her so much, and the idea of any harm coming to her made him want to be violent. God forbid, he ever had to be.

With his innate and rare skills even his fencing instructors felt compelled to compliment him on after their obvious awe subsided, he didn't doubt he could be lethal. He didn't want to be, but he definitely could be. And he would be for her. He would have been for his foster mother and father too, but now...

Now, he didn't know who he could trust, outside of Aeris.

Vincent Valentine felt the need to pop back into his head at that moment. And Sephiroth lifted his head back off the steering wheel, staring at nothing. He hated the way his body reacted to just the thought of him—his heartrate picking up, his cock swelling a bit, among other things—but also couldn't get out of his head the fact that Vincent knew something, knew a lot, in fact, about what was going on. And it appeared he was as much of an unwilling participant in all of this as Sephiroth was, if Vincent's and Lucrecia's conversation, okay, fight was any indication. In Vincent, Sephiroth finally found some glimmer of hope to figure out exactly what was going on and how he could deal with this hell he'd been dumped unceremoniously into.

The relief in him was so substantial that he immediately pulled up the marksmanship class' blackboard on his phone and found his instructor's contact information. He'd never been a quitter and didn't want to start that day, no matter his previous impulses, no matter how much sense it'd make to just run away and start over. This was his life, damn it. He had plans. He'd worked his ass off his entire life to get to his point. To let these bastards win—he wasn't going to let it happen.

It wasn't until he heard the phone ringing next to his ear that he second guessed his impulsiveness. It was in that moment that he realized exactly who he was about to talk to, a man who'd imprinted on him, who'd claimed Sephiroth had imprinted on him, who'd said they shouldn't be anywhere near each other.

Would Vincent even be willing to see him? Maybe it would be better to just talk over the phone. Maybe he should just hang the fuck up and go with his first plan instead. That suddenly seemed a ton more rational than talking to this man.

Halfway in between hanging up and having some balls, the former winning, his choice was made for him when he heard a voice on the other end.

"Hello?" The voice was hesitant and already so familiar, beautifully low and rumbly.

Did Vincent suspect it was him? Was Sephiroth being unbelievably predictable? Probably.

Sephiroth's body instantly reacted to Vincent, and he hated it. He squeezed his eyes shut, his grip straining on the phone.

"Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth couldn’t help but love the way his name sounded coming from this man's lips.

"Sephiroth, we..." Vincent blew out a heavy breath that was muffled by the phone.

Eyes closed again, Sephiroth leaned back into his custom seat that allowed for his wings, his head tilting back and exposing his neck. The custom seat business was a multi-billion-dollar industry. Maybe he should have gotten into that instead of becoming a military officer which had got him taking this man's class in the first pace. Sephiroth blew out his own steadying breath. "We shouldn't see each other, right?"

"It's... not a good idea. And you should drop the class."

Considering Vincent's previous words and actions, Sephiroth was surprised Vincent hadn't just kicked his ass from the class. Maybe he couldn't do it for the same reasons that Sephiroth himself was suddenly finding it hard to even want to do it. Especially now that he'd gotten it in his head that this was a person he could depend on for answers. To sever that link...

It felt like he'd be cutting off a part of himself.

Sephiroth mumbled, "I think it's already well beyond the point of being a good or bad idea."

"We need to be apart from each other. It'll get easier with time."

"Yeah, but..."

"Trust me. Eventually, you won't even notice the hole in your heart anymore."

With the heartache in Vincent's voice, Sephiroth didn't really believe him, but the words reminded Sephiroth of Vincent talking about that other man, Veld, who'd apparently killed himself because he'd, what? He'd been imprinted with Vincent? And, from the sound of it, Vincent with him. But if they'd imprinted, they should have been happy together and making lots of babies and living the life. Right?

And if that was true, then how had Sephiroth even been imprinted on Vincent? It was something that only happened once in a lifetime. ...Right? At least he'd always been told so.

Imprinting was a moment in a person's life that everything fell into place, that they would belong to each other and that bond would be unbreakable. A perfect match ordained by the creator or nature, depending on who you talked to. Or so he'd always been told. He'd held that ideal to heart, even if he'd done everything in his power to stall the inevitable. He'd always figured, when the time was right, when he was well off with his life and able to provide, it'd just happen.

And it apparently had, without his consent. But maybe he'd always been fooling himself that he'd ever had any true control over it. Maybe it'd just taken the right person to make all his ambitions fall into the toilet.

"I..." Sephiroth said, gripping the phone so hard it made parts of his hand white. "I don't think I want to give this up. If this is my chance to..."

God, what was he saying? Self-indoctrinated impulses fought with his words.

But what if this was it? What if this was his one chance to be happy and there wasn't a single other person out there who could make him feel complete, like he belonged to them and them to him? Already facing that loss, he didn't know if he could bear it.

Besides, Vincent still knew things, still could help him, if only they could talk to one another without ripping each other's clothes off for a while. "And I need to talk to you about what you know. About Hojo and Lucrecia. ...And you."

There was a long pause, Sephiroth holding his breath, before Vincent finally said, "Fine, we can talk. Let's meet..."

With Vincent's pause, Sephiroth could understand the dilemma. Where should they meet? In a public place and risk pouncing on each other in public again? Or someplace more private where there was still a good, if not extremely better chance they'd be at each other?

"Are you still at the school," Vincent asked finally.

"Yeah, I am."

"Then come to my office. You know where it is?"

"Uh, yeah. I already have your contact info pulled up."

"Okay. I'll meet you there in ten minutes."

"Okay." Sephiroth heard the line go dead and tried to steady his breaths as he ignored his sweaty palms. And armpits. And back. Hell, just about every part of him was breaking out in a sweat.

But he could do this, damn it. He could stay rational. Sane. He could. He'd been doing it for years.

Well, at least he had until he'd come face to face with Vincent Valentine. But, at least, Vincent seemed to want this bond as little as Sephiroth did.

And maybe even just as much.


	6. Chapter 6

Almost ten minutes later, Sephiroth stood outside the office door. His fist—no, it wasn't trembling, damn it—hovered a few inches from the solid wood. He blamed the craziness in his head for his inability to get the limb to move any farther. And he’d had more than enough of barging into offices that day.

Seemingly an eternity later which couldn't have been more than a minute, he managed to pound the wood a couple of times. The sound vibrated in the empty hall, making him cringe.

Another minute later, standing there stock still as if his entire life rested on this moment—at least standing still outside of his heavy breathing and absolutely no trembling to speak of, of course. Damn his rustling wings to hell—there was no answering reply, no opening of the door, nothing. He didn't know whether to be relieved or not, whether this was truly a blessing and a hint to get his ass well away from there or not.

And while thinking about asses, the memory of Vincent against him the first time, behind him, pressing his groin against him, clearly wanting to claim him, of Vincent grabbing his ass in the hallway for everyone to see, kneading it, spreading it...

Sephiroth swallowed as his mouth immediately went dry. His fists clenched at his sides. If Vincent thought he was just going to bend over for him...

...Of course, would Vincent bend over for him? He severely doubted it.

They were both male alphas. Bending over wasn't part of the job description. Yeah, female alphas did it, but in the end, there was still a clear leader in the relationship. And until alpha females grew dicks, that was just the way it was.

With males, it was just... different. Right?

Questioning that fundamental fact, Sephiroth found himself immensely confused over something he'd always just taken at face value before.

But, whether true or not, alphas didn't fuck alphas because it was like a masturbating tug of war. Neither side would ever win.

...Right?

But, considering he'd felt with Vincent in the few seconds they'd been at each other, the last thing it could have been called was an ordinary and dull session of masturbation. It'd been...

Even just those few seconds had been the most physically pleasurable moments of his life. There was no way he could ever deny how every part of him had felt on the verge of catching on fire. There was no way he could deny he desperately wanted to do it again.

But, even if all of that was true, did that really even change anything? Biologically, they were incompatible.

Lucrecia's words came back to him again. According to her, he and Vincent were made for each other, literally. They'd been genetically altered. Or, at least, Sephiroth assumed Vincent had also been.

And, jealous and hating it, apparently Vincent had been involved with another alpha, another male. Who'd fucking killed himself. Sephiroth wasn't far from understanding the need to kill oneself at that point, but he still wasn't past the idea he could beat this thing. No matter what life threw at him, he could beat it. Death, however, he couldn't beat—no one could—and he was in no way ready to give up despite any temptations.

When Sephiroth realized he was still standing there, he knew he should have knocked again just to be sure but couldn't find the strength to do the measly act. He was so exhausted both in body and mind at that point that he just wanted to crawl back into bed and forget any of this had ever happened, and be grateful that his life was still semi-normal. And maybe Lucrecia had already dropped him from the class—Lucrecia, his mother, for fuck’s sake! That conniving hag—

His forehead landed against the door as the tidal-wave of everything slammed over him yet again. He again wanted to crawl into a hole, just for a little while so he could right himself again and act like today had never happened.

After all, none of this had been part of his plan. None of this really matter to it. It changed nothing, as far as he was concerned. He had his parents, no matter what Lucrecia and Hojo were to him. His conniving foster parents that—

He had to stop himself. He couldn’t blame them yet. He hadn’t even let his dad tell his side of the story. And he had to be assuming too much. There had to be a reason they’d allowed Lucrecia and Hojo to continue to be a part of his life. There just had to be because he couldn’t contemplate a world where his foster parents would maliciously allow hurt to come to him. It would have been betrayal to the ultimate degree.

While blowing out a strong, haggard stream of air, Sephiroth realized he heard footsteps approaching. He caught his breath and jerked away from the door in time to see Vincent approach in the darkening hallway. Vincent was watching him right back, a concern in his eyes that made Sephiroth want to lose it and break down.

His hopefully already ex-instructor stopped a few steps away. "Are you all right?"

"No, not really," Sephiroth admitted. It felt good to say it, taking solace in the fact that Vincent seemed to be a victim in all of this as much as he was. And solace in Vincent’s obvious and real concern. It was concern Sephiroth should have been seeking from his family, but he felt that Vincent would do, at least for now. It was probably a false sense of security but it also felt completely right and Sephiroth knew he had his treacherous, modified DNA to blame for that.

Or maybe it was just Vincent himself. The man was... everything Sephiroth could have hoped for in a mate. How he knew that, he didn’t know—please, let it not just be the imprinting—but he nonetheless couldn’t help but believe this man was perfect for him.

...Just as this Veld person had been perfect for Vincent?

Absurd, jealous pain rearing its ugly head again, Sephiroth growled and turned away, intent on walking, okay, running away. A strong hand grabbed his own, tight, almost on the verge of causing pain.

"Don’t go," Vincent whispered in his already low, growly voice.

The words sent a wave of heat through Sephiroth’s body, as he clenched his eyes shut while he did everything he could to not moan.

"Just sit with me."

Just sit? Really? Seriously? Vincent had to be more nuts than he was. Technically, both times, it’d been Vincent who was the one to get up on him, both on the range and at Lucrecia’s office. Did Vincent really think he’d be able to contain himself this time? And, if he could, could Sephiroth? Maybe. To be even more honest, Sephiroth had been just a breath or two away from jumping Vincent. And maybe the other man just gave in easier the second time around because Vincent knew from experience how inevitable their bodies connecting was.

Sephiroth felt a tug on his hand and turned his head to watch Vincent slink down to the floor, his back against the door. Yeah, seeing him down on the ground didn’t help anything.

Calmly enough, Vincent said, "We’ll just sit here. Okay? And we can talk."

Staring down, after a helpless hack of a laugh, Sephiroth couldn’t help but say, "Do you have any idea how much I want to fuck you right now?"

"Yeah, I do," Vincent replied as his eyes dropped a bit to look at the obvious bulge inside Sephiroth’s pants, before he met Sephiroth’s eyes again.

This time, being checked out didn’t disturb Sephiroth in the least. Quite the opposite actually. Obviously.

Sephiroth found himself sitting down, unconsciously careful with his wings. Sitting down on the floor like this wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world when one had wings, but he had far greater things that concerned him. He wanted to keep some distance but ended up practically brushing arms with the other man, their wings touching. When his ass finally found the floor, he couldn’t help but look at Vincent. He had to stiffen his whole body or he knew he’d risk touching the man.

Vincent had his eyes closed, his head tilted back, his lips parted to allow the noticeably deepened breaths. "I’m sorry I crossed the line. That I... touched you." Touched him? That was the understatement of the year. "I... I have no real excuse for it. You’re my student. I should be behaving better."

"I’m still your student?"

Vincent blinked his eyes open and turned his head to return the stare. His mouth hung open a bit for a moment before he managed, "I should have kicked you from the class while I was there."

"But..."

Seconds later, their stare continuing on, Vincent smiled with an exasperated huff. Holy fuck, he was beautiful with those amazing and rare blood red eyes, pale skin, perfect teeth, perfect just about everything, okay, perfect everything as far as Sephiroth was concerned.

"This is so messed up," Vincent breathed out. "I’m old enough to be your father."

Sephiroth realized then that he’d never even considered Vincent’s age. He’d been a baby or perhaps not even conceived yet when they’d experimented on Vincent, right? "How old are you?"

"Forty-four."

Compared to his twenty-two? "Oh, is that all?"

And it wasn’t all that old, really, considering many people lived to be over two-hundred years old. Some breeds of their kind had even topped three-hundred. Of course, some lived much less. One could only hope they’d end up with a mate that would match their lifespan otherwise, well... There was no envy for widows and widowers. Of course, Vincent seemed to be the exception to that and able to be imprinted on again.

"Who was Veld?" Sephiroth didn’t really think about the question until after he’d asked it and regretted asking it instantly. Did he really want to know?

Vincent watched him carefully for several excruciating second before looking away and tilting his head back again. Then, shocking Sephiroth all over again, Vincent gripped his hand again, making it difficult for Sephiroth to breathe as he stared down at their entwining fingers. It wasn’t so much lust that made him ache though. Of course, there was lust, but it was more just a generalized yearning for... something. Something he wasn’t sure Vincent could ever give to him, no matter how much he wanted it.

"He was my friend many years ago, before you were born. We went to high school and college together. We dropped out together. We became lowly security guards together at a research facility. We were happy that way. Neither of us were interested in kids or spouses yet. Back then, it wasn’t illegal to get inhibitors, not with the population exploding." Vincent shrugged a shoulder. "I guess, we were just having fun. But he was always more serious than me, especially then. He took the job more seriously. He... When he found out I’d fallen in love with a beta, a researcher there, God, was he pissed. I mean, I knew it was never going to happen between me and her, for lots of reasons. But she was smart, beautiful, passionate about her work, and... at the time, I thought she was a caring woman. I wanted us to be friends. All of us." He laughed shortly again, although this one was tainted with a good amount of misery. "I was really stupid back then. It took me too long to figure out she was married to her work, so driven that... Even her husband was second to it. And that man was no better."

"Please tell me you’re not talking about Lucrecia and Hojo..."

Vincent sighed. "I am. And I never should have agreed to help her. I... I convinced Veld to be a part of it. The money the two of them offered wasn’t much but, to us, well, it promised a lot of fun nights. I listened to her explain what they were trying to do, turning an alpha into... something else. I don’t think I believed her at the time, that such a thing was possible. I didn’t take it seriously. I just wasn’t thinking straight. Or, hell, I just didn’t understand. I wasn’t a scientist. I was a college dropout and a hired gun."

As the man went silent, Sephiroth still studied Vincent’s every feature, every small expression and movement of his body. He’d never stared at someone like this before and wasn’t even really aware he was doing it. He sure as hell wasn’t aware that his free hand had lifted up either before he saw it move in front of his face. It hovered close to Vincent’s cheek.

In that moment, Sephiroth thought he understood how touch helped them. Touching Vincent, even just hand contact, brought a wholeness he’d never felt with another. Yes, he’d loved many people, especially his family, but it wasn’t the same as this.

Eyes still closed, Vincent said softly, "I think he killed himself because he didn’t love me as more than friends. He didn’t want to be with me, not like that. I guess I felt something of the same. But it didn’t bother me so much, not like it did for him. He... The more he resisted, the worse everything got. We should have just went our separate ways. We never should have stayed together, not even as friends. You have to understand, it’s... What Lucrecia and Hojo made us, it’s not how it’s supposed to be. When an alpha is with an omega, there’s that moment the rutting is over. From what I’ve read and what I could get out of Lucrecia, omegas create chemicals when their heat is over, and alphas don’t create those chemicals. Not even with what they did to us. What we’re experiencing, it won’t end. We won’t ever be satisfied. We’ll always want more, until the rut consumes us. And that, along with the fact that Veld just didn’t want me that way, no matter what his body said... He just couldn’t take it. It killed him."

Vincent shook his head slightly, the man surely living in his own memories. "So, you must understand, we shouldn’t be doing this. We really shouldn’t ever see each other again." The words seemed to be trying to convince Vincent as much as Sephiroth. Sephiroth finally touched Vincent’s cheek. The man’s eyes tore open and he stared back at Sephiroth. His other hand clamped down over Sephiroth’s, holding the hand there, and repeated, "We shouldn’t do this."

"I’m finding it really hard to care."

Vincent turned his body towards Sephiroth a bit, switching Sephiroth’s hand to his other cheek. He smiled again, making Sephiroth’s heart race. "Give it a few days. You’ll probably totally regret saying that."

Sephiroth shook his head, trapped in this man’s spell. Finally, he had to close his eyes because his brain couldn’t work properly when he looked at Vincent. "If it’s just about chemicals, can’t they just be synthesized or something?"

"Back then, no. They couldn’t stop or at least control what was happening to us. But, maybe... Maybe today, they could. I don’t know. I haven’t had any reason to ask. ...Sephiroth..." Sephiroth opened his eyes and realized how close Vincent’s face had gotten to his own. "We can’t take that risk. I’m going to walk away from this. I need you to drop the class. Or, better yet, I might just leave town. I’ve been meaning to do some traveling anyway."

Sephiroth felt a heart clenching panic at the words. "But what if we both want it? You said Veld didn’t. What if we both did?"

"I don’t think that'll help. And we don’t love each other. We don’t even know each other."

"Like that matters when you’ve been imprinted."

Vincent leaned forward a bit more, searching Sephiroth’s face. "I don’t want to hurt you. And this will hurt you. It’ll only get worse."

"How can you be so sure? What if what happened to Veld only happened because he fought it? What if _we_ really are meant to be together?" God, what was he saying? He’d completely and totally lost his mind at some point. He had no idea what point it’d been.

But Vincent didn’t laugh off his words. He seemed to be taking them seriously. That only let Sephiroth drown even more in all of this. "I think the both of us are a bit too romantic at heart."

"Is that so bad?"

"Trust me, it will be." And then, with some untold strength, Vincent deranged himself, stood up, and walked away, leaving Sephiroth to stagger to his feet. How the fuck did Vincent find the strength to do that?


	7. Chapter 7

Before the next day of school was over, Sephiroth loaded up the screen on his phone to drop the class two times between classes. He wasn't even going to bother trying to find a replacement. He'd worry about it his last semester. But he hadn't been able to make his trembling finger press the confirmation button either time.

Before the evening was over, he got an email before he could make his third and hopefully final attempt. The email notified him that the class had been cancelled and he'd been automatically removed from it. He stared at that email because he knew what it really meant.

Vincent had made Sephiroth's choice for him. For them both. He took a long shower, one he couldn't find the will to get out of even when the water turned cold, and pretended the tears were just from the water.

The days that followed, he trudged through his classes like he barely knew where he was. He really didn't care where he was. The hole inside of himself felt as real as if someone had burrowed out his gut.

But, after nearly a month, Vincent never returning to the college, when Sephiroth's grades started coming back, when he got a call from Lucrecia which he ignored completely, something clicked in his brain. Seeing those 0's and realizing his GPA was going to go from a 4.0 to straight down the drain, he began to wake up. Then he forced himself to wake up.

Vincent was gone, a man he'd never really had in the first place. Vincent wasn't going to help him through this and sure as hell wasn't going to save Sephiroth's sorry ass from himself.

So, he fought the fog, controlled his traumatized brain and treacherous body. And, while the loss was still buried in there, he forced himself to keep moving.

And he forced himself to keep seeing Dr. Hojo because, no matter how much the thought of Hojo sickened him, Sephiroth still had to control his body. That meant he had to keep getting his inhibitor prescription replenished, just in case everything he'd been told was wrong and everything he believed about Vincent was wrong too. He didn't ask Hojo a single question about any of it. He just went in, did whatever tests were demanded, and walked right back out and to the pharmacy.

He finished school with his 4.0 and, for the first time, it just seemed like a meaningless piece of paper. But he also knew it would get him into the academy where he'd finish his military training. And then he'd work himself up the ranks, all the way up to General, just as he'd planned.

Eight years after he'd first met Vincent Valentine, at the age of thirty, he was indeed a Lieutenant General, the youngest to ever bear that honor. General wasn't far off. Becoming an expert in every field in physical combat as well as leadership, proving his skills on the field, begging to test as early as possible so he could rank up, he'd spent his every waking hour earning that honor and keeping what he really wanted away in the depths of his pieced together heart.

“Dad was asking about you again,” Aeris said carefully over the phone. When Sephiroth said nothing about that—he never did—she sighed, her disappointment and unease evident. “Will you ever tell me what happened between you two? You were so close.”

That morning, he'd answered his phone without a thought because he'd been distracted with what had happened on base earlier that morning. Years before, Sephiroth had always looked forward to talking with her. Now, half the time he straight out avoided her calls and just deleted her texts. He wished she would just let it go.

He closed his eyes, his head tilting back a bit to take in the morning sun. “No. I won’t tell you. Please stop asking me. I have to get to work.”

“He’s so proud of you, you know.”

"Tell me where and when the wedding will be, and I'll fly out there." Sephiroth pressed the screen to hang up and continued walking to the large brick building.

He'd never talked to his foster dad about Hojo and Lucrecia, had barely seen him and only on holidays. He never did talk because he could see the guilt and shame in Gast's eyes. Lucrecia or Hojo must have told him what had happened that day. That first mutual stare between Sephiroth and his dad had been more than enough to confirm everything in Sephiroth's mind. He hadn't needed another sob story. He hadn't thought he could bear another without tearing something apart and hadn't wanted that something to be his foster dad.

It was better to just never talk about any of it with anyone, to pretend on the surface that none of it had ever happened. The future Sephiroth was creating for himself was his only hope.

...At least, Aeris had found happiness with her fiancé, Zack, in all of this. The memory of first meeting the man outside of the gun range made Sephiroth smile weakly again. Even from just that first meeting, he had been able to tell Zack was a good person. He was a good match for her, one indeed ordained by destiny.

The day was a whirlwind of tactical planning and retrievals of bodies and injured from the field. He had to bear it all with the four hours of sleep he'd managed. The rebels had attacked just before dawn, less than an hour before he'd gotten back on base.

No matter how many on both of their sides died, the rebel numbers just seemed to grow and grow like they were in a continual rut and popping out anarchists left and right. It'd gotten to the point that Sephiroth had to wonder what they were really fighting for, if he was being told the truth in all of this. Over the years, he'd come to realize that President Shinra and his faculty told little in the way of truths and that their primary motivation was money. Had he known years ago what he knew that day, he doubted he would have chosen this career.

But he was here now and was going to do his damnedest to see it through.

At least, he thought that as he walked to his small house after night had already fallen, before he felt a blow to the head that, in the next moment, brought darkness.

Complete darkness cut off everything around him when he awoke with a splitting headache, a wing that felt like glass had been shoved into it, and an overwhelming nausea. When he tried to roll over in case he vomited, he couldn't. He was tied to what felt like a bed. The straps binding his wrists, chest and legs felt like leather. At least the ones on his wrists and ankles did. That was about all he could figure out and even those facts where hazy. He had no idea where he was, what time it was. No useful knowledge was to be had in the darkness.

Sephiroth swallowed. His tongue felt like swollen sandpaper in his mouth. He knew then it must have been at least hours since he'd been brought here. He tried to assess his whole body, the situation. He tried to put those years of military training to good use, but it was rather hopeless when his pain and nausea seemed more important than anything else.

If he was captured though, tied up and held prisoner, then understanding things wasn't going to do much for him. He assured himself of that with a testing, violent yank of his forearms. They lifted only a few inches off the bed.

At least he wasn't hanging from the ceiling, his joints popping out of his sockets. That meant they probably thought they had a use for him. Or they just weren't as sadistic as some groups. Of course, they had to have some use for him or he'd already be dead, right?

Sephiroth blew out a shaky breath and tried to just get his wits about him. They surely wouldn't leave him alone forever. It was then, noting each part of himself, that he realized he had to piss. Badly. All that damn water he'd drank with his meager supper right before he left the building to go home...

"Fuck," he blurted out, not bothering to hide his voice. Not that it helped get him released. He wasn't about to piss himself though. He'd hold it until, what? He exploded internally? "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

The door suddenly opened, spilling light inside the evidently small room. Sephiroth clenched his eyes shut, jerking his head away and bringing back the nausea full blast, as he heard footsteps, two sets of them, come close. 

"Do you need anything?" a woman asked, her voice quiet but filled with something resembling concern. He didn't recognize her voice.

Sephiroth's training and stubbornness, okay, maybe just stupidity made him not open his mouth. Yeah, he damned well needed something but wasn't ready to say it out loud to his captors. Damn his hips for wiggling a bit as he tried to hold it in.

"Let's just get him up and to the bathroom," she said more quietly.

Then a couple of people were undoing the straps on either side of him. By then it was safe to open his eyes. The room he was in was barely the size of a storage room. There was enough room for a bed, some medical equipment and a chair, along with some wiggle room to get around. The windowless room probably was a storage room.

Sephiroth took in the two people unstrapping him and instantly recognized them from the multitude of files kept on the rebels. He'd practically memorized every bit of them. The woman was Tifa Lockhart. She'd worked her way to the inside of the room. The large man on the other side of the bed who took up a considerable amount of the wiggle room near the door was Barret Wallace. 

They were well-known terrorists of the group AVALANCHE with no known surviving family, thus it'd been difficult to gain leverage over them in any shape or form. Up until now, they'd remained elusive outside of the occasional camera that captured them. According to reports, they were also high-ranking leaders of the rebels. At least that's what the last report had said over two years before. The mole had since been killed, and the rebels were much more careful about who they accepted into their main ranks after that point.

Hoisted up by the man's thick arms, Sephiroth half-shouted as pain traveled everywhere, especially through his left wing. He knew then that it'd most likely been broken. The damned things might have been considered nice to look at by the omegas but definitely had their impracticalities. 

Showing little mercy—not that his bladder was showing any either—he was then turned and pulled off the bed and onto his feet. He wobbled on feet that felt like lead. It was then that he realized he was no longer in his military uniform. He'd been changed into something that more resembled a sheet. It was probably an old hospital gown. Which meant his ass was showing for the woman behind him as his wings spread the back opening. Sephiroth didn't bother to groan. He was in too much pain to really care about modesty.

Barret threateningly gripped the unbroken wing along with a, "Move," and Sephiroth was led down the dim hallway. Pipes followed them overhead. They were probably in a basement or in an underground facility. The last they'd heard, AVALANCHE was based over the border to the south. Could they have taken him to another country? What would be the hope of his people finding him if they had? Little to none. So, he had to rely completely on himself.

"You're only alive because someone vouched for you." Tifa said, stepping close and turning her head to look at him, searching his face most likely for any hint of betrayal. "He says you're a good person. Can we believe that?"

"Yes," Sephiroth hissed with an unintended glare back. But could they really expect differently? And,yes, he'd play their game and act the prisoner which he obviously was. Because the more he knew, the easier it'd be to find a weakness he could exploit. "Who's the one who vouched for me?"

"Vincent Valentine."


End file.
